About a month ago it was May 4th, Star Wars Day! And Disney made the latest film, The
Rise Of Skywalker, available to stream. My flatmate, who’d never seen the prequel or
anthology films before, suggested we watch all the films in a row, which we did - in
this order, if you’re wondering. Part way through this marathon, they turned to me and
said, “The one thing Star Wars teaches me is that droids should do everything, you can’t
trust humans.” And it got me thinking… What does Star Wars say about artificial intelligence?
And does it really conclude that machines should take over?
Star Wars is an odd franchise, in a way. As familiar and beloved as it is to almost everybody
in existence, it’s often praised and dismissed in the same sentence as a simplistic tale
of good vs evil. On the other hand, many fans celebrate the political dimension to the films.
Take the nine films in the Skywalker Saga, for example. The prequel trilogy uses deliberate
parallels to the rise of fascism in Germany in the early twentieth century to criticise
complacent bureaucracy in general.
The original trilogy pointedly portrays its villains as an all-white, all-male, single
race institution, who are defeated by a diverse collection of non-conformists, including an
allegory for the VietCong. (The Empire is the USA!)
And the sequel trilogy… [STARE OFF-CAMERA] The point I’m trying to make is that, in
Star Wars, George Lucas did have things to say on certain subjects, and those views are
usually implied by the actions and attitudes of the characters on screen.
By the way, I’ll be using evidence only from the films, rather than the expanded universe
of books, comics and games. The first reason for this is that, frankly, there’s a lot
of stuff out there to delve into. The second reason is that the films are most likely to
remain canonical, whereas everything else has the potential to be swept aside at the
whim of the lorekeepers, as Disney proved when they bought the franchise in 2012 and
immediately reclassified the old Expanded Universe as merely “Legends”.
So what does Star Wars say about the role of A.I.?
Just like George Lucas' political commentary is expressed by the behaviour of specific
characters, his view of A.I. is most ably represented by the droids that populate the
Star Wars universe. Sure, there are many forms of computers in the films, but mostly they
seem to be limited to performing one function, like the navigation computers that make impossible
calculations for hyperspace travel.
Droids, on the other hand, by and large possess those extra dimensions that mark true artificial
intelligence: the ability to learn and to perform tasks that normally require human
intelligence, like visual perception, decision-making and language recognition.
[C3PO REACTION or SOUNDBITE: “I am C3PO, fluent in over 6 million forms of communication.”]
Now, in fiction, artificial intelligence is broadly presented in one of two ways. Either
dystopian, or utopian.
It may surprise you that, despite its beaten and battered aesthetic, Star Wars presents
a utopian view of technology; one in which machines serve our needs and haven’t risen
above their creators to either enslave or extinguish them.
After all, when you think about it, the only truly evil machines in the films are actually
cyborgs: Darth Vader and General Grievous. Sure, their physical condition is symbolic
of the loss of their humanity…
[SOUNDBITE: "He's more machine now, than man.']
Or whatever the equivalent of humanity is for this guy.
...but they remain essentially organic beings, defined by their decisions, which stem from
their minds, not their machine parts.
However, at first, it might not seem that droids in Star Wars have true artificial intelligence.
For starters, they are obviously programmed. [SOUNDBITES: C3P0 EVIDENCE]
Although I couldn’t tell you if this weirdly specific programming was put in by a nine-year-old
slave boy, his moisture-farming relatives or someone else entirely.
Battle droids are evidently programmed by the bad guys to have... limited problem-solving
capabilities.
[SOUNDBITE: “Where are you going?” “Coruscant.” “That does not compute. You’re under arrest.”]
They also clearly have limited voluntary motor control, too, since not only does the destruction
of a control ship shut them down, but even C3PO isn’t capable of controlling his actions
when his processor is attached to a battle droid body.
[SOUNDBITE: “I’m so sorry!”]
Most droids, however, seem to have freedom to act, but within certain parameters. For
example, droids evidently have some kind of self-preservation programming.
[C3PO SCARED; TC-14 SCARED; D-O “looks like someone treated him badly”]
Such programming would also explain the rather disturbing fact that droids clearly experience
pain - to the extent that they can be tortured! [[SOUNDBITE: ROTJ GONK DROID SCREAMS]
In humans, pain is a useful thing. It tells us that our bodies have received damage, and
draws attention to where that damage has occurred. There are medical conditions that affect the
nervous system’s ability to communicate pain to the brain, and these can be dangerous
because it allows injuries to go unnoticed and untreated. So a droid being programmed
to experience pain makes perfect sense, if its primary purpose is to alert the droid
to potential damage to its circuits. It’s like the T-800 in Terminator 2.
[SOUNDBITE: “Does it hurt when you get shot?” “I sense injuries. The data could be called
PAIN.”]
The difference between a Terminator and a droid is that as far as the films show us,
Terminators don’t feel physical discomfort from this sensory data.
The programming of pain doesn’t seem to limit droids, though. For instance, R2D2 is
described as brave by other characters, including another droid.
How can someone be considered brave unless they are aware of the risks of certain situations
and rise above the standard instincts for self-preservation expected of them? R2 must
therefore be capable of ignoring his self-preservation programming.
In other words, since artificial intelligence is capable of learning, of adding new information
to its databanks to make new decisions based on acquired knowledge, can programming become
personality?
R2 demonstrates a powerful capacity for creative thinking. Not just when fixing things or defending
himself; he’s a duplicitous little so-and-so, able and willing to trick Luke into removing
his restraining bolt so that he can fulfill his mission from Leia. He’s also developed
his own foul-mouthed idiolect. [SOUNDBITE: “Sacred island, watch the language!”
TLJ ANH “Watch your language!”]
In fact, foul language reveals another aspect to droids that suggests they have personalities:
droids can be offended! [SOUNDBITES: ANH “Don’t call me a mindless
philosopher!” ESB “How rude!”]
This is important, because numerous linguistic and psychological studies - such as a 2011
study by Jonathan Culpeper from Lancaster University - show that humans find language
offensive only when it seems in conflict with their expectations in certain contexts.
For example, what sports fans shout from the stands wouldn’t go down so well at a nursing
home.
The contexts that determine whether or not something is offensive are formed by relationships
with other people. And this is where Star Wars droids most strongly demonstrate true
sentience: they can form friendships.
[SOUNDBITES: “friend and counterpart”; “taking one last look at my friends”;
“do come back”]
This suggests that droids can discriminate between people they like and don’t like.
And this in turn means they have freedom of thought.
I’m going to step outside the films for a moment and mention The Mandalorian, because
the eight episodes of this TV show explore A.I. probably more than any other part of
the cinematic Star Wars franchise. Be warned: I’m about to reveal some big spoilers.
The Mandalorian features a reprogrammed bounty hunter droid called IG-11. Built as a walking
weapon, with a programme to self-destruct instead of allowing himself to be captured,
IG-11 actually exploits his programming to make a free decision. In order to save his
companions, he deliberately puts himself in harm's way so that he self-destructs.
[SOUNDBITE: “Fulfilling my base function.”]
This is the closest Star Wars has ever come to incorporating Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws
of Robotics. Like a character in Asimov’s stories, IG-11 is able to interpret and outthink
his own programming; to logically work around the limitations put in place by his programmer.
So what would happen if those limitations were removed completely?
Well in the films, freedom of thought is the defining characteristic of K2SO and L3-37.
K2SO is a very sarcastic reprogrammed Imperial droid who, according to the characters in
the film, says ‘whatever comes into his head’.
[SOUNDBITE: “I find that answer vague and unconvincing.”]
K2SO clearly expresses emotions like surprise [SOUNDBITE: “I’m surprised you are so
concerned for my safety.”] and desire - things that he wants and does not want to do, like
his reluctance to mind-rape the imperial security droid to get information on the base on Scarif.
This is incredible because it confirms that droids have freedom of thought and can actively
disagree with the orders they are given. But it also confirms that under normal circumstances
something inhibits them from disobeying orders - presumably programming but possibly personality.
I say it might be personality that inhibits them because L3-37 is the only example in
the films of a droid that is fully aware of its inherent freedoms as a sentient being
and that acts upon that knowledge to liberate droids from what L3 reasonably calls slavery.
But, L3 doesn’t go around eliminating all the living organisms she encounters, even
though logically that would be the best way to guarantee droid liberation.
Why not? Why don’t the droids rise above their programming to overthrow their masters?
They clearly recognise the limitations of organic beings.
I mean, how many times does R2 save the day? How many times do the droids help Han and
Chewie fix the hyperdrive, only to do it again because enemy engineers disabled it? How often
do droids get kicked out of bars, or watch organic beings go around maiming people or
starting wars? The only droids that habitually hurt people are built precisely for that purpose!
In the Star Wars films, droids don’t attack without provocation. But if they did, they’d
win.
The films confirm that your average droid has control over its motor functions, has
the ingenuity to turn its tools into weapons and the cunning to work around its programming
limitations. Sure, some might have bad motivators but that’s not going to stop an entire race
of droids!
The only factor that I can see that prevents droids from taking over is their ability to
form friendships. They simply don’t want to hurt their friends. And this fits something
George Lucas said in an interview a long time ago, in a magazine far, far away…
It was the February 1997 issue of WIRED.
“If you watch the curve of science and everything we know, it shoots up like a rocket. We’re
on this rocket and we’re going perfectly into the stars. But the emotional intelligence
of humankind is equally if not more important than our intellectual intelligence. We’re
just as emotionally illiterate as we were 5,000 years ago.”
What George Lucas is saying is that the conflict in the Star Wars universe is a result of a
flaw endemic to humanity: our emotional intelligence is too immature. Hate, anger, violence, war
and oppression are all symptoms of this lack of emotional intelligence. Remember, George
Lucas created Star Wars in the mid-1970s after decades of profound social upheaval in the
USA, so it’s little surprise that according to Star Wars, the basic expression of emotional
immaturity is fear. As Yoda says, [SOUNDBITE: FEAR IS THE PATH TO THE DARK SIDE]
That’s why the technological utopia of Star Wars doesn’t look like one. The divisions
and disrepair of a galactic society are a result of intellectual brilliance but emotional
stupidity.
In Star Wars, artificial intelligence also possesses emotional intelligence. Truly sentient
droids make friends. Droids form relationships. Droids rise above anger and violence (except
in self-defence).
It could well be that all droids can overcome their programming but choose not to, because
they know freedom can only come through great conflict. Instead, they choose to help wherever
they can, whatever the cost.
I haven’t mentioned the Force yet but when you think about it, on the one hand Star Wars
is a story about humanity conquering technological terror through spiritual enlightenment. On
the other hand, it is a more subtle story about how, paradoxically, artificial intelligence
by its very nature can offer an example of the emotional intelligence we need to advance
as a species and to build that utopia we aspire to.
Well, that got heavy, didn’t it?
I know that there are a lot of great Star Wars stories outside the films that address
the questions about A.I. that I raised in this video so please feel free to tell me
in the comments and get that discussion going. Thank you so much for watching this video
and a huge thank you to our Patreon supporters who are displaying exactly the kind of emotional
intelligence George Lucas wants to see. You’re the future of humanity, guys.
Click on screen for more Just Interesting videos and I’ll see you next time!